{"id":3333,"date":"2011-03-18T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2011-03-18T09:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.badreputation.org.uk\/?p=3333"},"modified":"2013-05-31T16:17:28","modified_gmt":"2013-05-31T15:17:28","slug":"secret-diary-of-a-female-petrolhead-the-supercar-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badreputation.org.uk\/2011\/03\/18\/secret-diary-of-a-female-petrolhead-the-supercar-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Secret Diary of a Female Petrolhead: the Supercar Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Explain to me about supercars.<\/p>\n

No, seriously. If anyone out there has a clue, please write in and explain to me how anyone can consider them \u2018cool\u2019. Now, I like a supercar<\/a> as much as the next person.\u00a0 Wait, scratch that. How can I say I like it? I\u2019ve never driven a supercar. I\u2019ve never touched one. I\u2019ve never even seen one in real life close up. (I will obviously have to make an effort at the next motorshow.) So how can I categorically state: yup, that one there, that\u2019s the one for me, the one with the bright orange paintjob and the rotating guns mounted on the spoiler?<\/p>\n

I realise I\u2019ve just finished telling you<\/a> that I am really quite partial to the Zonda R<\/a>, but that\u2019s more of an abstract sort of love. I love it like I love Dali \u2013 I\u2019ve no idea what\u2019s going on with it, and would feel vaguely disturbed if I did. But to stand up and say, yup, I\u2019d love to own one? No.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

And then it melted.<\/p><\/div>\n

And yet, despite that, I\u2019m having to wage battles over whether or not the Exige<\/a> \u2013 or the Agera<\/a>, or the One-77<\/a> \u2013 is cool, uncool or just too uncool for words. My logic, for anyone who is interested, is this: if it looks like it\u2019s something a City banker would drive without a hint of irony, there are no words for how uncool it is. <\/em>Give it up now.<\/p>\n

Actually, I don\u2019t see why I should be having this argument at all, because it\u2019s my fridge, and my fridge magnets, and if I decide to have the Exige in the Uncool<\/a> section, on my own head be it. And still, out it came \u2013 \u201cbut look at it! It looks like the Batmobile!\u201d<\/p>\n

There is, I suspect, a significant difference between engine enthusiasts and car enthusiasts. Both care about what the car has under the bonnet, but the car enthusiasts also care about whether or not it looks like a Batmobile<\/a>. Whereas I actively gravitate towards non-Batmobile cars (they don\u2019t go with my handbag).<\/p>\n

Anyway, the point is, I\u2019ve now had a few driving lessons, and have therefore been thinking about what car I would hypothetically buy once I pass my driving test (and before I move to my castle, complete with moat). Meanwhile, my instructor was telling me to stop giving way to people (why? They were busy and going somewhere, whereas I was driving in circles!) and hold my ground. I had to stop being so cooperative, otherwise I would be ‘forever taken advantage of’.<\/p>\n

While I was thinking about being less cooperative, I was cut up by a bloke driving a royal blue Ferrari. I can\u2019t swear as to the model, due to the extreme speed at which he almost ran me off the road, but its sloping front looked rather like a Ferrari Daytona<\/a>. Suffice to say I was rather surprised to see one in Clapham, and even more surprised to nearly have it embed itself in the side of the Fiat 500<\/a> I was desperately trying not to stall.<\/p>\n

Ah, I thought. That<\/em> is what I\u2019m supposed to do. That raw, unbridled aggre-<\/p>\n

\u201cWas that the same Ferrari I saw on the roundabout a few minutes ago?\u201d my instructor asked. I wouldn\u2019t know, since at the time I was trying to remember which turn I was meant to be taking. But if so –<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy is that bloke driving around pointlessly?\u201d<\/p>\n

As several Very Busy Persons behind me decided to improve my driving skills by honking their horns and pointing out that I should have allowed the Daytona-alike and my little Fiat to merge rather than braking and therefore delaying them by 3.4 seconds, I pondered the problem of the supercar. Even a Ferrari seemed a little pointless in South London. Surely anyone who drove one would either have to buy their own corner of Monte Carlo, or would otherwise have to face running for a pint of milk in something that looks like it should ram other cars for daring to share road space.<\/p>\n

\"There\u2019s<\/a>

There\u2019s a reason I\u2019m going to have to learn to rebuild an engine. (Image via alfaromeowallpaper.info)<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019m going to have to decline. I\u2019d much rather drive something that didn\u2019t automatically make people hate me from miles away.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve settled on an Alfa 166. No, it’s not a supercar.<\/p>\n

It’s better.<\/p>\n